The world used to pretend weed was a dude thing… cute. But stoner girls have always been here; rolling, sparking, sharing, passing, laughing, and living deliciously high. We are not the sidekicks, the giggling “pick me”, or the “chill girlfriend” holding the grinder.
Now, attention is shifting, and who gets to be in the spotlight is being redefined. The modern weed era is finally featuring women who are shaking up the 420 culture: the growers with resin on their fingers, the scientists flipping stereotypes on their heads, the activists fighting for safe access, the stylish queens whose purses carry lipstick, a lighter, and the future of this industry.
Stories of women cultivators, legal pioneers, and company founders are becoming more common, both shaping and reflecting the market. And brands and firms are responding, which proves that this isn’t a niche: it’s mainstream. If Carrie Bradshaw lit up on prime-time TV 20 years ago, nothing should stop you from pulling out a pink Veazy from that super cute bag of yours.
And yes, there are still barriers, such as capital access, historical exclusion, regulatory headwinds. But the shift is real. So spark up and pay attention.
From Witches to Stoners: How Women Kept the Fire Burning
Long before indoors, lab coats, and posh dispensaries, women were already communing with the plant by cultivating, healing, and whispering knowledge across generations. Cannabis was part of their toolkit, used in ointments, teas, and rituals that celebrated healing, fertility, and altered states.
Mexican researcher and educator Polita Pepper provides an anthropological view:
“Women’s role in relation to cannabis, and to other sacred or medicinal plants we now call psychedelics or entheogens, has been profound, diverse, and historically invisible.”
She explains that this connection was “intimate, spiritual, communal, and ecological, part of a worldview where the body, the soul, the plant, and the land were one inseparable whole.”
Then things got messy. Colonization and patriarchy turned healers into witches and medicine into taboo. The burning of women was also the burning of memory — a way to erase independent, community-based wisdom.
Today, that fire is back, but on our own terms. “The link between women and plants has always been political. To silence those forms of knowledge was to control women’s bodies. So today, reclaiming that connection is a feminist act, an act of care, of autonomy, of building a more human and ethical relationship with nature,” Polita says.
From witches to stoners, the lineage is unbroken, only transformed.
A brief-ish history of handbags
The purse has not always been the fashion-obsessed, mystery-filled sidekick it is today. Its history is basically a travelogue through women’s evolving freedom. Handbags as we know them only took shape toward the late 19th century, shifting from delicate reticules meant to hold perfume or a fan (and definitely not money, because men controlled the cash back then) into practical, structured bags that snapped shut and offered privacy and independence.
Before that evolution, women relied on “tie-on pockets” —separate little pouches worn under skirts and accessed through slits in the fabric, because our clothing didn’t include functional, built-in pockets like men’s garments did. And honestly, who are we kidding? It’s 2025 and women’s clothes still treat pockets like mythical creatures.
As gals started moving more freely in public, taking trains, working, and organizing, their bags had to keep up. The handbag became a feminist symbol on the streets. During the Suffragette movement in Great Britain, bags got bigger because activists needed to stash pamphlets, notebooks, and tools of protest. They were no longer accessories, but portable declarations: I am here, I have rights, and I have receipts in my bag.
That vibe definitely fed into the satire of Alice Duer Miller’s suffrage book Are Women People? (George H. Doran Company, 1915). In a section called Campaign Material, she included “Why We Oppose Pockets for Women”, a biting parody of the ridiculous arguments used to deny women both pockets and political representation. Pay special attention to number 8.
Today, handbags are as diverse as the women who sling them over a shoulder or clutch them through a smoky afterparty. They carry self-expression, survival, chaos, and sometimes weed-proof lining. They are still political, still personal, still loaded with history… and possibly a lighter that has been lost for three months right under the gum wrappers.
Which brings us to the point. Because if a purse represents identity, then what better way to explore who “stoner girls” are than by diving into what they carry? Rolling papers next to lipstick. A vape next to a half-eaten muffin. A grinder and a journal. Comfort and rebellion, all tied into one.
Welcome to the archeology of the stoner girl’s purse. No permission required.
What’s In The Bag, Babe? High-or-Die Essentials Only
Here’s the deal: we talked to nine stoner girls who joined us on this wild Very Happy trip hosted by En Volá in Ushuaia, Argentina —the literal end of the world. Eighty-three weed lovers, ten vans, grow associations, a substrate factory tour, a sunset catamaran to watch the sea lions, with everyone high-key blasted… you get the vibe. And yes, the cannabis community still skews dude, but down here the girls were thriving: comfy, seen, supported, loud, soft, weird. The whole she-bang.
So we asked each one the question: What can’t you leave the house without? What is the one (or two, or five, because pockets hate us) thing that absolutely must go in your purse, or the whole mission falls apart?
This is the stoner girl survival kit. Let’s unzip.
Luna Stower — United States
Role: Freelance marketer and brand builder for psychedelics & cannabis.
Essential(s): “I cannot leave home without my rosin, which I always get from Northern California producers that are from cannabis-grown and living soil, always kind of regenerative, agriculture-focused, live rosin only, no residual solvents, no anything. Clean, tested, pure, and obviously, my Dip Device or my Storz & Bickel all day, every day. That’s what I need.”
Zara Snapp — Mexico
Role: Director at Instituto RIA.
Essential(s): “In my purse or my backpack, I always carry water, rolling supplies, some flower, and stickers to give to people I meet along the way.”
Aleksandra — Germany
Role: Corporate cannabis lawyer.
Essential(s): “The one thing I can’t leave behind is active carbon filters because nobody ever has them… I’m the only one who likes to smoke with them!”
Polita Pepper — Mexico
Role: Cannabis & entheogen researcher + educator.
Essential(s): “A stoner girl must always carry something to smoke —and if it’s with harm reduction in mind, even better.”
Antara — Chile
Role: Chemist & chocolatier.
Essential(s): “What can’t be missing in my purse is something sweet for the munchies… most likely already a little nibbled.”
Marina — Argentina
Role: Founder of Que Lindo Community, a wellness-focused cannabis club.
Essential(s): “I just cannot leave home without my ID and my dry herb vape. But I like to keep a clear head while I’m being active, so I usually light up when my responsibilities have been taken care of”.
Erandeny — Mexico
Role: Herbal vaporizer entrepreneur.
Essential(s): “I cannot leave home without a vape —for harm reduction— and my grinder, to make everything simpler and prettier. And, of course, my herb.”
Marta — Spain
Role: Criminal lawyer defending the cannabis community.
Essential(s): “I can’t go anywhere without good resin to smoke, and the perfect filters, exactly the right size —I’m very picky about my filters.”
Alexandra — Argentina
Role: Cannabis professional at Melody’s Farm.
Essential(s): “In my O.Zeta bag —a cannabis essential in its own right— I always carry mouthwash. That’s just being a good smoker.”
